中国回族穆斯林政治文化交流中心——清真寺

清真寺是穆斯林的礼拜场所,在穆斯林的心目中具有崇高而且神圣的地位,是伊斯兰文化的物化表现。由于伊斯兰教在回回民族形成过程中起到了决定性的纽带作用,因此,相对于中国其他信仰伊斯兰教的少数民族而言,清真寺在回族社会生活中有着更为特殊的意义。一、清真寺名称的由来清真寺不仅是穆斯林礼拜和举行宗教活动的场所,而且与每一位穆斯林的社会活动和家庭生活都有着非常密切的联系。清真寺是阿拉伯语“麦斯吉德”的意译,原意为“叩拜安拉之处”。伊斯兰教最早的清真寺为：“古巴依”清真寺,位于麦地那近郊约三公里处,是由先知穆罕…     

草原上的穆斯林隆重庆祝“圣纪”节

在阿坝县委、县政府和有关领导的亲切关怀下，1996年10月20日阿坝县全体穆斯林同胞汇聚在清真寺，举行了隆重的“圣纪”节庆祝活动。这天万里晴空，坐落在川西北藏区草原上的阿坝县清真寺被装饰，点缀得格外庄重美观，全县穆斯林身着节日盛装、头戴白帽和盖头，汇聚在清真寺隆重庆祝穆圣诞辰1469周年。在庄严的穆斯林传统纪念仪式之后，州、县的领导同志亲自来到清真寺向众穆斯林表示亲切地慰问和祝贺；各寺庙的僧侣代表以及兄弟民族的代表前来同穆斯林欢聚一堂热情祝贺。清真寺内呈现出各民族、各宗教之间团结友爱、和睦相处的动人场面，大…     

如何发挥清真寺在构建和谐社会中的作用

清真寺在穆斯林心目中有着神圣崇高的地位。它是穆斯林宗教生活、社会活动、文化学习的中心,是穆斯林的精神家园。穆斯林以清真寺为中心形成同心圆式的居住方式,即一个清真寺就是一个寺坊。寺坊是一种宗教性的地缘社区,它整合着整个社区的生活,实现了社区内部的自治。同一寺坊内的穆斯林以寺为中心形成了错综交杂的社区网络,并且可以保证该社区辐射范围内的物质、精神、信息资源的共享,为广大穆斯林群众提供方便,保证了伊斯兰文化的传承与内部秩序的整合。同时,作为伊斯兰文化象征的清真寺,也总是与政治、经济、社会、文化等因素掺合在一起,…     

伊斯兰文化与中国建筑文化的完美融合 记黑龙江省哈尔滨市阿城清真寺

正阿城清真寺从清代延续至今,作为伊斯兰教的活动场所对哈尔滨乃至整个黑龙江地区穆斯林的文化教育及各民族睦邻友好往来做出了自身贡献,是典型的宗教中国化建筑样板,也是伊斯兰文化完美融入中国传统文化的典范。阿城清真寺位于黑龙江省哈尔滨市阿城区民主街,始建于清乾隆四十二年(1777),是黑龙江省建造最早的清真寺之一,历经数百年风雨而至今屹立。阿城早期的回族穆斯林居民多由山东、河北等地的贫苦民众为生存举家北迁而来。乾隆四十二年(1777),为满足阿城回族穆斯林居民婚丧嫁娶、聚礼祈祷等生活所需,解决穆斯林礼拜、封斋无寺的问题,乡老杨华先租赁8间民房,设礼拜堂、沐浴室、阿訇办公室等。嘉庆七年(1802),     

论汉口头道街穆斯林文化空间的视觉呈现

伊斯兰教是世界三大宗教之一,信徒称为"穆斯林",意为"顺从真主和实现和平者",公元七世纪左右产生于中东的阿拉伯半岛,随后在世界范围内广泛传播。汉口江岸头道街地区,是穆斯林比较集中的街区,是武汉回族穆斯林"大分散,小聚居"比较典型的社区。由于此街区穆斯林多集中于头道街清真寺开展宗教活动,这里形成了以清真寺为核心的穆斯林民俗及宗教传播的文化空间。在建筑、碑刻、服饰和民俗等视觉感知领域,对这一文化空间展开多维讨论,可以揭示这一民族交融互通,风俗彼此影响的特殊文化环境和视觉呈现特点。     

书写中国伊斯兰教故事——以修清真寺志为例

清真寺不仅是宗教活动的场所,而且是穆斯林文化生活和人际交往的场所,被视为穆斯林的"精神家园"。(1)地方志的编修是中华民族优秀文化传统之一,在明清以来一直存在寺院志、庙宇志的编修,但是很少有清真寺志的编纂实践。新中国成立后,各地部分清真寺进行了志书的编修,清真寺与志书结合,体现了中国特色,为讲好中国伊斯兰教故事提供了新的文献载体。     

伊斯兰教中国本土化的古老传统——《圣纪在中国》摄制活动纪实

正中国穆斯林历来有举办圣纪活动的传统,大多在伊历3月份内择日举行隆重的圣纪活动。圣纪活动上,穆斯林多在清真寺内诵经祈祷、吟诵赞圣词,讲述先知穆圣生平事迹和道德情操,教诲穆斯林坚守正信、完善美德、服务社会。为挖掘中国穆斯林传统圣纪活动所承载的信仰、道德和文化内涵,弘扬中国穆斯林以先知嘉言懿行为典范追求信仰纯洁、品德高尚、行为文明的精神价值,传承中国伊斯兰教千百年来形成的具有本土特色的古老宗教文化传     

对当今经堂教育的若干思考

对当今经堂教育的若干思考马文选经堂教育，是开学阿訇在清真寺内收徒讲经，培养伊斯兰教教务人员的传统宗教教育形式，它对继承发扬伊斯兰教义精神，传播伊斯兰经学知识和穆斯林民族文化作出了重要贡献。历代经学家如王岱舆、张中、马注、马复初、刘介廉、马联元等都对经...     

对当今经堂教育的若干思考

对当今经堂教育的若干思考马文选经堂教育，是开学阿訇在清真寺内收徒讲经，培养伊斯兰教教务人员的传统宗教教育形式，它对继承发扬伊斯兰教义精神，传播伊斯兰经学知识和穆斯林民族文化作出了重要贡献。历代经学家如王岱舆、张中、马注、马复初、刘介廉、马联元等都对经...     

明代社会中的伊斯兰教和穆斯林

在明代社会中,穆斯林的社会地位已经截然不同于元代。统治者的民族与宗教政也发生了改变。新政权在服装、语言、姓氏等方面对包括穆斯林在内的少数民族进行限制;同时,明王朝的最高统治者对伊斯兰教信仰又表示了尊崇。好几任皇帝都曾支清真寺的修建工作。明武宗朱厚照甚至对伊斯兰教表示了浓厚的兴趣。一些穆斯林在朝受到重用,其中最著名的就是7次率领船队出访亚、非各国的郑和,其船队中有不人是穆斯林。回族在明代已经完全形成,伊斯兰教在这漫长的历史过程中,成为极其要的文化核心,产生巨大的凝聚力。这一宗教为回族穆斯林提供了无形而又坚实的文屏障,并遏止了汉文化继续对回族穆斯林进一步产生影响。     

The Meaning of Pilgrimage (Hajj): Re-shaping the Pious Identity of Belgian Turkish Muslims

This article examines how Belgian Muslims of Turkish origin interact with the hajj (pilgrimage) and the meaning of the pilgrimage for Muslims living in Belgium. It focuses upon the space of pilgrimage rituals, identifies the motivations for the practice of the pilgrimage and attempts to explain how the ‘canonical meaning’ of the hajj, which is considered unchanging, is adopted in the new Belgian situation and how pilgrims regard it. The physical practice of pilgrimage constitutes an interesting area through which to depict how Belgian Muslims of Turkish origin experience the sacred journey that shapes their religious understanding and their identity. The article’s findings are based on interviews and observations in 2012 and 2014. The author visited mosques during hajj information sessions and spoke with imams, but the fieldwork was carried out among pilgrims who had visited Mecca for their hajj and ?umra..     

Policy Discourses on Mosques in the Netherlands 1980–2002: Contested Constructions

The establishment of mosques is an incentive for public discussions on Islam and the presence of Muslims in Western European societies. This article critically reconstructs Public Policy discourses on mosque establishment in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. It shows how urban-planning discourses, and their specific frames, which came to dominate mosque establishment as a policy issue in Rotterdam from the 1980s onwards, created their own set of meanings. The article analyses these discourses in terms of their enabling and constraining roles during a period in which local authorities became more involved in the improvement and placement of new mosques in the Rotterdam area. On the one hand, the urban renewal framework allowed for a substantial improvement in the housing of Islamic religious and cultural practice. On the other hand, urban planning policy discursive practices gave less attention to issues such as visibility and presence that are now at the heart of the heated debates about Muslim populations in Dutch society. More recent discussions on the aesthetics and location of mosques in Rotterdam illustrate how these dominant discourses are not only contestable but are also being contested from all quarters.     

Sense of community among Muslims in the Brazil–Paraguay border: narratives of belonging and generational differences

ABSTRACT

The so-called ‘Triple Frontier’—the border between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina—is the ‘host society’ of an important Muslim community, composed mainly of Lebanese immigrants and their descendants born in Brazil and Paraguay. In less than two decades, Shi’i and Sunni Arab Muslims created mosques, religious centres, a cemetery, and three schools. Mosques, schools, and religious centres are spaces for the production of a sense of community. The institutional discourse of these entities emphasises the connection between religion and community origin, considering Islam as part of ‘Arab culture’. Taking generational differences into account, this article aims to analyse the narratives of plural identity expressed in the meanings attributed to the immigrants’ self-identification as Muslims. Based on fieldwork in the South American border area, this work aims to shed light on the way in which immigrants and their descendants reinterpret their religious belonging, informed by the new experience of living in multi-religious societies.     

Ramadan’s Radical Reform

This article argues that Tariq Ramadan’s reform agenda is relatively modest in scope and has not had the wide-ranging impact the more liberal intelligentsia may have wished for. The article is written from the perspective of a convinced and practising Christian. I am not seeking to prove myself right and Ramadan, or anyone else, wrong, but to evaluate Ramadan’s reform process. The article is divided into four main sections. The first outlines Ramadan’s argument that Muslims must move beyond slavish imitation towards a carefully thought out, contextually appropriate expression of Islam in the modern context. The second critiques Ramadan’s arguments for a realistic pluralism and his suggestion that Muslims regard wherever they live as dār al-shahāda. The third outlines two areas where Ramadan directly challenges the majority opinion within Islam, asking whether these challenges are appropriate and effective. These areas are his call for a moratorium on the Islamic penal code and his desire for greater female involvement with mosques. The fourth section briefly examines Ramadan’s critics before reinforcing the conclusion that Ramadan’s reform, while radical in the sense of returning to Islam’s roots, does not seek to bring about the changes that some might expect it to do.     

One mosque and the negotiation of German Islam

In the last half century (pious) Muslims and their communities have become integral parts of German cities. They are creative cultural producers and religiously inspired urban citizens. Mosques are central nodes in urban Muslim religious and cultural geographies where believers negotiate pious identities and lifeworlds, configure pious public personae and modes of civic participation. In this paper I introduce the Al-Nour Mosque as a unique node in the religious and cultural geography of the southern German state capital of Stuttgart. I examine this mosque as an urban space where individual and communal religiosities and religious cultures are discussed, formulated, tested and practised. My central question is how urban culture and religion are negotiated in the context of a mosque community. I argue that urban culture and religion are negotiated not only in mainstream public spaces or established churches but also in invisible places like mosques. Based on several years of ethnographic fieldwork in Stuttgart, I analyse the creative role of the Al-Nour Mosque in the construction of religious subjectivities, negotiations of urban religiosities and religiously inspired urban cultures. Analysing exemplary events, activities, cultural and religious negotiations in the Al-Nour Mosque, I demonstrate that places like the Al-Nour Mosque are dynamic elements of the urban religious and cultural geography.     

The Siting of Churches and Mosques as an Indicator of Christian–Muslim Relations

The state of relations between Christians and Muslims can be difficult to assess, particularly on a micro scale. Analysing where and why places of worship are located can be an important indicator of the complexities of inter-religious relations. This paper uses examples and case studies from across time and space to demonstrate how changes to the religious landscape can help ascertain degrees of tolerance and intolerance. These changes can come about through such methods as allowing mosques or churches to be built as a sign of tolerance, destroying or converting mosques or churches as a sign of intolerance, building a place of worship adjacent to another place of worship out of either respect or a sense of superiority, and limiting the location in order to keep the minority religious group in its place.     

The Hindu‐Muslim problem — A cooperative approach

This document, widely circulated in India, argues that the Hindu‐Muslim problem has political, socio‐economic and religious aspects. Here the emphasis is on the Muslim component. It was political hostility which assumed the form of religious hostility. The rise of religio‐cultural separatism and Islamization must be viewed not simply as a facet of ‘Muslim fanaticism’ but rather as a sociological process which resulted from the political struggles between the élites of the two communities and of a heightened political consciousness. But the identity of the Muslims of India remains. Their ‘Muslimness’ cannot completely submerge their ‘Indianness’. Whereas Hindus are asked to show respect for the Muslim minority's cultural‐religious sensibilities, Muslims should opt for a progressive and not a regressive indentity.     

Ramadan in Iceland: A Tale of Two Mosques

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are required to fast from dawn to the beginning of the night. During summers in Nordic states, this means daily fasts of more than 18 hours. Two religio-juristic opinions have emerged regarding this challenge: one requires strict adherence to the commands of the Qur'an so long as night and day are distinguishable; the other encourages fasting the same number of hours as in Mecca and Medina or a nearby country where the duration of the day is moderate. This article offers an overview of these opinions, their development and how they resist common distinctions between ‘pragmatic' and ‘strict' juristic panels. On the basis of a field study conducted during 2015 in two mosques in Reykjavik, it also explores the division among Iceland's tiny minority of devout Muslims over this issue, and the contesting justifications given by leaders and attendees of the two mosques for their respective views. The discussion demonstrates the conflation of transnational and local influences (including satellite television channels) that contribute to the diffusion of fatwās in Europe, and the limited utility of the labels wasa?ī and salafī in predicting the actual practices of individuals and communities.